Spider-Man: Brand New Day

The fourth instalment of the Spider-Man Home trilogy is an intriguing addition to the franchise in that it’s largely an exploration of Peter Parker’s mental health. While its predecessors were a mix of teen angst and traditional action fare, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is part superhero flick, part psychodrama.

In a convenient case of deus ex machina, the memory of Peter Parker (Tom Holland) has been erased from everyone who knew him following Dr Strange’s spell in the last film. Now of college age, Peter is living in a crummy apartment fighting crime on the streets of New York. He misses (and Insta-stalks) the love of his life, MJ (Zendaya), who’s now dating a college classmate. Rather than join his peers in campus life, however, Peter isn’t quite ready to give up web-slinging for beer-swigging.

While far from Marvel-does-cinéma-vérité, much of the film leans more into the everyday than the fantastical. Peter’s heartbreak over MJ causes something akin to PTSD and literal overstimulation of his Spidey senses. His desire to heal leads to him attempting to alter his DNA, à la The Fly, while battling a new, top-secret enemy. It’s a surprisingly realistic portrayal of trauma and anxiety.

But this also makes it rather jarring when it does leap into the usual superhero action, which comes rather late, continuing the trend of overlong MCU films (Avengers: Endgame, for instance, had a runtime that almost rivalled The Irishman, so it’s no wonder Marty lamented superhero movies portraying themselves as high art). Did a Spider-Man film really need to be almost two and a half hours long? Not to sound like a jaded Millennial wistful for the good ol’ noughties, but 2002’s Spider-Man ended at a snappily respectable two hours. Brand New Day’s length results in what could have been an otherwise tight feature being dragged out.

But it’s nonetheless enjoyable, in part due to MCU cameos (including a stand-out Florence Pugh chewing the scenery). And Holland has always felt more like a “Peter Parker” than his predecessors. At 30, he has that almost childlike quality that makes him perfectly cast as the boy who just wants to save the world and get the girl (given Holland and Zendaya’s recent marriage, it’s also sweet seeing Peter and MJ have a meet-cute all over again). Yep, just when he thought he was out, his Spidey sense pulls him back in.

At its best when it leans into the troubled psyche of Peter Parker, Brand New Day is a worthy addition to the much-loved franchise.

Antonia Georgiou

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is released nationwide on 29^th July 2026.

Watch the trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day here: